JUNE 2022: OWN YOUR FEARS

Writing is hard. Trying to write scared–is impossible.

Now, if most writers are honest, we all write scared! All of us! There is a risky element to this thing! You are taking something which only was relevant to you, existed only for you, and putting in the world. That is scary! But, the fear is much more complicated.

Much more complicated!

This why owning what scares you when you write, or before you write is imperative! With being able to identify these things, you can build needed confidence!

Confidence cancels out fear!

For me, my fears are rooted in certain topics, and my writing plans. I have a planner dedicated to writing, scheduling and all that good stuff! But, when I don’t adhere to that? My fear is that I will fall behind and can’t catch up. When I write about tough topics, or think that I am going to cross genres, my fear is that I believe I can’t do it. With that knowledge, I can put necessary supports in place!

Fear is normal: a writer not writing is not normal.

JUNE 2022: OWN YOUR FEARS

This month will be hard, it will be a little invasive, but it will be needed. -JBH

“The scariest part is right before you begin.” -Stephen King

Writing is hard. Full stop.

And for that difficulty, it can be hard in these three areas (the three C’s): courage, continuing, consistency. And if left unchecked, these C’s turn into the big F: FEAR.

And FEAR is something that writers have to realize exists, and still have to navigate! The fear of writing won’t go away, but we must learn how to manage that. It gets easier, I promise.

But it gets easier once you confront what it is that fuels or feed your fears. Let us examine those through the vehicle of the three C’s.

Courage. What thing stops you from writing as you want? What fear is stopping you from writing bravely?

Continuing. If you have drafts or projects that you haven’t finished, why is that? What is stopping you from completing what you start?

Consistency. Writers have to—write. Do you have a writing schedule or time set aside to write? If you don’t, why not?

And as you begin to answer these questions, think about your own internal processes, you will have to own what scares you. Once you do, writing will be easier.

Encouragement Pages: 06/03/2022

Dear Writer:

Let your motivation to write today fall into these categories:

1.) Joy

2.) Curiosity

3.) Hope.

Joy because writing can be joyous (there are times that it isn’t, but when it is joyous? Keep going).

Curiosity is important because you must know want to know what happens next before anyone else.

Hope is essential because this is what powers any writers’ imagination.

Keep going.

With Love & Ink,

JBHarris

May 2022: OWN THE LOSSES

TW: This is going to be touchy topic as it goes towards intellectual property, ideas, and when each are relevant. -JBH

Ideas are precious commodities.

The one thing I must leave you with as we end this month is to guard your ideas. Read it again: guard your ideas. Aside from time wasted, the next worst thing that can happen to a writer is to lose an idea. Not from the laziness that all writers have when we don’t write something down–but someone taking your idea that you never wrote down or saved.

That kind of loss is common, whispered about, and is completely unnecessary.

In the age of smartphones, consider this an extension of your imagination (because it is!). Ideas have time and date stamped on/in Notes app on iPhones. And recently? I found lots of work on my phone, completely forgetting when I wrote anything.

Aside from the steady reminder that you all have from me this month about saving your work in two places, I want you to be mindful of who you share your ideas with–especially if there is no copyright added to them!

The thing is: if you tell and idea and someone else grabs in and runs with it? You have to own that too. Not everyone in writer circles are honest!

Losses for a writer can snowball quickly: guard your work, save your work, and be mindful of who you share things with. You’ll thank me later.

Encouragement Pages-05/30/2022

The most frustrating thing about being a writer is pacing your imagination with your writing schedule.

Remember these two things: (1) your writing schedule is flexible and (2) you are able to make your imagination slow down as well (don’t make you a bad writer to do that).

Keep going! The world is waiting on you.

With Love & Ink,

JBHarris